Aryna Sabalenka has admitted that she regrets not taking a mid-season break in order to recover from a lingering shoulder injury.
That injury doesn’t seem to be affecting Sabalenka at the moment as she heads into this year’s US Open as favourite to win the title.
Sabalenka regained her world number two ranking after winning Cincinnati in a dominant week from the Australian Open champion.
Now Sabalenka has US Open glory on her mind after narrowly missing out on the title last year.
Speaking in her press conference Sabalenka has admitted she is not thinking about last year’s defeat in the final, “Yeah, I’m super happy with the title. Very important one. Just super excited to be back at the US Open, one of my favourite slams,” Sabalenka told journalists about her Cincinnati triumph.
“I mean, I definitely felt really, like, really good after Cincinnati title. It was very important for me to get that title and to get those wins. I think, yeah, I was really happy with the level I played. It’s not like it’s weight out of my shoulder.
“It just little, like, happy moment before going to the US Open, which is also very important to have this good feelings before the big tournaments.
“It’s not like it’s in my mind a lot that I kind of, like, have unfinished something here, but those tough losses definitely motivated me a lot to hard work and to improve things which didn’t work in the previous years.
“Every time I’m coming here, I’m really hoping for the best result. I really hope one day I’ll be happy to lift this beautiful trophy.”
Sabalenka is in good form and will fancy her chances at winning the US Open this year.
However that form wasn’t necessarily the case earlier on in the season as she had a bad run of form after winning the Australian Open.
That was due to a lingering shoulder injury that also caused Sabalenka to withdraw from Wimbledon.
Speaking on the injury, Sabalenka had admitted that she should have taken a break during the season, “Yeah, looking back, I definitely think that I should have just stopped and just kind of like, yeah, like, separate myself from tennis, just, like, have this little break and recharge and kind of like start things over again. I think I kind of, like, overplayed, and I carried a lot,” Sabalenka explained.
“At the end, it just hit me with the injury, and also, I was sick, I was injured, I had stomach issue at the French Open. You know, like, health-wise I was struggling a lot, and yeah, and that’s why I think that this break was much needed.
“Not like I’m happy to get injured, but I’m happy that I had this time off and this kind of like time to reset my mind, and yeah, to get ready for the hard court.
“I think definitely after this year mentally I will become even stronger, which I felt like there is no gap to get stronger mentally than I am at the moment. But yeah, things showed me that actually there is way to improve.”
After a tricky season Sabalenka is now back on track to end the season strong as she searches for a third Grand Slam title in New York.
The first test for Sabalenka will be against Priscilla Hon on Monday night New York time.
